Kratos and Bia, for ye twain the hest Of...

Kratos and Bia, for ye twain the hest

Of Zeus is done with; nothing lets you further.

But forcibly to bind a brother God,

In chains, in this deep chasm raked by all storms

I have not courage; yet needs must I pluck

Courage from manifest necessity,

For woe worth him that slights the Father's word.

O high-souled son of them is sage in counsel,

With heavy heart I must make thy heart heavy,

In bonds of brass not easy to be loosed,

Nailing thee to this crag where no wight dwells,

Nor sound of human voice nor shape of man

Shall visit thee; but the sun-blaze shall roast

Thy flesh; thy hue, flower-fair, shall suffer change;

Welcome will Night be when with spangled robe

She hides the light of day; welcome the sun

Returning to disperse the frosts of dawn.

And every hour shall bring its weight of woe

To wear thy heart away; for yet unborn

Is he who shall release thee from thy pain.

This is thy wage for loving humankind.

For, being a God, thou dared'st the Gods' ill will,

Preferring, to exceeding honour, Man.

Wherefore thy long watch shall be comfortless,

Stretched on this rock, never to close an eye

Or bend a knee; and vainly shalt thou lift,

With groanings deep and lamentable cries,

Thy voice; for Zeus is hard to be entreated,

As new-born power is ever pitiless.

Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound.

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